Photo credit: Matthias Creutziger
After a rash of heavy, Mahlerian programming from many of
the touring orchestras passing through Carnegie Hall this winter, it was
incredibly inviting to see conductor Christian Thielemann bring the
Staatskapelle Dresden to the American stage for an intimate evening of Brahms.
Although the program’s three works only span seven years during the composer’s
late period, the tone of each work showcased the rich diversity of Brahms’
character, encompassing the drunken revelry of the Academic Festival Overture, the never-ending lyrical flow of the
Violin Concerto, and the staunch formalism of the Fourth Symphony.
After winning over the Mostly Mozart Festival audience last
summer with a pristine performance of Beethoven’s seminal Violin Concerto, Lisa
Batiashvili returned to New York with a completely different temperament in
hand for the Brahms. Although there were a number of similarly elegant moments
across the two works for the soloist to display a delicate and mature sense of
phrasing and color variation, there was a heightened sense of drama and
aggression delivered in the Brahms, from double-stopped minor-key marches to
the finale’s fiery gypsy dance and bold choice of the timpani-heavy Ferruccio
Busoni cadenza.
Even from the violin’s first entrance after the orchestral
exposition, Batiashvili was ready to take charge, and the initial phrase’s
wide-ranging melodic span and impeccable intonation stopped the orchestra in
its tracks. Communicating closely with Thielemann throughout the work, Batiashvili
exhibited a great amount of freedom within her lines—creating many
improvisatory gestures that never veered outside of the orchestra’s solid
metric framework. Every contour was organically phrased, especially in the
central Adagio, where the soloist and
oboist Céline Moinet traded captivating performances of the tender and iconic
principal melody.
Thielemann continued to extract rich sound from his
orchestra during the Fourth Symphony, where the juxtaposition of thick strings
and velveteen woodwinds made for a robust set of colors. Although the Fourth is
well-known for its stormy outer movements, the ensemble made a convincing case
for the middle movements: a lyrical slow movement hinging on an enigmatic
melody using the ancient Phrygian mode, and Brahms’ only use of a proper
scherzo in a symphony.
The vibrant dance was never garish or punchy with the German
players, who kept their rounded sound intact and left the spiky character to be
conveyed by the rare appearance of piccolo, triangle, and cymbal, calling to
mind the Turkish band music regularly employed by Mozart and Beethoven. The Andante moderato was marred by the
bright and unfocused clarinet section—the only players throughout the evening
to make their presences known for all the wrong reasons. Luckily, once the
large string body took over the movement’s second theme, pastoral grandeur was
attained.
Thielemann proved to be an imposing presence on the podium,
using large gestures and quite a lot of motion to stir the players. The conviction
in his interpretation was never in doubt, and he took advantage of each pivotal
moment within the work’s structure while never veering into overwrought
territory. There was a seething intensity to the symphony’s final moments, and
each push in tempo increased the vibrancy of the torrential string tremolos and
brass declamations. The energy was frenetic, and many other conductors could
take notes to ensure that Brahms—often regarded as the stodgy gatekeeper of the
past—receives this kind of energetic and forward-thinking interpretation more often.
The Staatskapelle Dresden returns to Carnegie Hall Friday night, April 19, for a performance of Bruckner's Eighth Symphony. Tickets available at the Carnegie website.